This invention relates generally to swimmer training paddles used for body conditioning and stroke technique development. More specifically, the invention relates to an improved paddle that provides greater thrust while minimizing undesirable instability due to swimmer wrist rotation or oscillation.
A swimmer is propelled forward by displacing water rearwardly through the motion of his hands and feet. The swimmer's arm stroke is most efficient when his arm strength and hand stability are maximized. Hand paddles are generally used by swimmers to increase arm strength and stroke efficiency. Use of the hand paddle increases water displacement and thereby increases the thrust of each swimming stroke. Use of a paddle also increases the moment, or tendency of the swimmer's hand to rotate, due to the usually large size of the paddle relative to the size of the hand. The swimmer must counteract this increased rotational tendency in order to maintain the stability of his hand as it moves through the water. Hand stability permits the swimmer to maximize water displacement, and thus determines the efficiency of each stroke.
Improving hand stability involves preventing uncontrolled hand movement, e.g., oscillation, about a rotational axis running through the swimmer's elbow, wrist and middle finger. Prior art paddles exhibit problems because as the paddle size is increased to increase arm strength, the tendency of the paddle to rotate also increases. Since a swimmer's wrist strength, and the corresponding ability to counteract uncontrolled rotation of the paddle, is usually less than the swimmer's arm strength, the size of prior art paddles is greatly limited by the wrist strength of the swimmers.
There is a need in the industry for a swimmer training paddle that promotes greater arm strength without a corresponding increase in the oscillatory rotational tendency of the paddle.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved swimming paddle that increases a swimmer's arm strength.
Another object is to provide such an improved swimming paddle that also increases a swimmer's hand stability.
An object of the invention also is to provide an improved swimming paddle in which the water-confronting surface area is increased without an undesirably large increase in the paddle's planar extent.
Another important object is to provide an improved swimming paddle that better frictionally engages water contacting the paddle.
Yet another object is to provide an improved swimming paddle which momentarily holds or captures water which contacts its leading surface.
It is another object to provide an improved swimming paddle which directs water encountered thereby during a stroke to flow in a direction transverse to the axis about which its tendency is to rotate in order to decrease its unstable rotational tendency.
Still another object is to provide such an improved swimming paddle configured for rotationally stable securement to hands of different sizes.
It is yet another important object of the invention to provide such an improved swimming paddle that is easy to manufacture and cost-effective.
Briefly summarizing the invention made in accordance with its preferred embodiment, an improved swimmer training paddle is provided with a generally rigid, angular, large-perimeter, planar expanse having formed therein a first set of regularly arrayed, plural apertures through which water can flow at a controlled rate. A second set of plural apertures smaller than those of the first set are provided for extending therethrough lengths of surgical tubing, wherein the lengths are made to form loops for securing one or more fingers of a swimmer's left or right hand to the expanse. A first, leading surface of the expanse is provided with water-holding means for controlling a volume of water in frictional engagement with the leading surface.
Preferably, the water-holding means is formed by texturing the leading surface of the paddle, preferably by forming therein a regular pattern of spaced recesses that extend linearly along intersecting axes that are diagonal to a given axis of the paddle about which there is a tendency to rotate. Such spaced, linear recesses preferably extend across the leading surface of the paddle contiguously from edge to edge. In accordance with a proposed modification, the water-holding means may take the form of plural, non-contiguous concave regions formed in or on the leading surface. The improved paddle increases the thrust of each stroke, while permitting a swimmer to maintain rotational control.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the consideration of the accompanying description and drawings of the preferred embodiment.